Jump to content

Another St Johnstone European Tour!


Steve McQueen

Recommended Posts

All the best lads, can't imagine the buzz you've got right now nor the buzz it will be if you get through. If we don't get pictures of [mention=19616]jamamafegan[/mention] bouncing around a nightclub with a cactus in hand at 3am I'll be disappointed. 


I have failed you. The Loft was open but I didn’t go. I’m not sure they have cacti anyway.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My thoughts on the game:

First half was great to watch. Being one of the Ormond Stand shaggers, we had the best view of that glorious goal. What a moment when all eyes turned to the ref and he points to the centre circle. Bedlam. Gala look rattled at times and I could see their players getting frustrated with each other.

Second half not so good. Gala turned things up and Saints decided to resort to hoofball. We were obviously out classed by Gala in the second half but Saints kept giving it away by hoofing the ball up the park for someone to chase, only to be beaten by the rapid Turks. The 4th Gala goal was an absolute stinker, embarrassing from us. I was glad we grabbed a goal back though to make up for it.

Other observations:

For a supposedly sold out crowd there were a lot of empty seats, especially in the North Stand. What was that all about?
The only Turks I saw were a group of them outside the ground getting a talking to by stewards.
“Movin’ On Up” at full time was nice to hear.

I’m not even that disappointed about the result. We were outclassed by a superior side. Just glad we got a couple of goals against them and recorded a respectable aggregate score against them. It was great to finally return to a football game in such of a large crowd. I completely forgot covid existed until full time. Bliss.

Unfortunately I think our European run is over. LASK are a very good side. I think we will be beaten comprehensively. Hopefully I’m proved wrong obvs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, jamamafegan said:

Unfortunately I think our European run is over. LASK are a very good side. I think we will be beaten comprehensively. Hopefully I’m proved wrong obvs.

Folk might have a go at you for this but I think you are right. I want to try and remain positive but the stars were aligned last night. 

LASK will be a well-drilled outfit and I suspect they'll blow us away. 

Would love this post to be brought back up in a fortnight obviously.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We haven’t had a European run. We’ve played a very good side in Galatasay and came up short and now we get to go again against another very good side. Let’s just enjoy it and hope for the best

 

Edited by saint pogo
Link to comment
Share on other sites

45 minutes ago, Radford said:

Folk might have a go at you for this but I think you are right. I want to try and remain positive but the stars were aligned last night. 

LASK will be a well-drilled outfit and I suspect they'll blow us away. 

Would love this post to be brought back up in a fortnight obviously.

Galatasaray have a stellar cast of players but there’s clearly instability behind the scenes and a changing of the guard in terms of the personnel going on. We did exceptionally well to take that as far as we did given the talent on display - and for my own part I really enjoyed seeing guys with that ability playing at McDiarmid Park.

LASK are liable to have players a level down (but not by much) than some of the superstars Galatasaray have - but I fully expect them to be the kind of mid level European team who are seriously well organised, technically excellent and ruthlessly efficient.

Beating Luzern and Rosenborg was an achievement - getting through this would be on another level entirely.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

LASK seem like everything we're trying to be, tbh.

Same shape, players the sort of profile you maybe want from that shape. Seem high tempo and direct, play a high pressing game too.

Could be entertaining as f**k if we open up against them, as it'll just be two well drilled outfits going properly toe to toe, but it'll probably come down to whos more clinical. If Vertainen can play and fills his hype, then I'd honestly want us to start with him, Middleton, and Wotherspoon as our front three. We'll need to create a lot of chances and take them, and I don't think we get that from MOH/Kane/May/Hendry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Free hit against LASK.  I'd love to see us go through to see Saints experience the group stage, and for the cash the club will earn, but can't say I'm hugely bothered if we don't.

Last night was great watching Saints taking on that quality of team in front of a big crowd, and the players did brilliantly, but see if it was another 8 games of sitting cheering us winning throw ins, I think the novelty would wear off for me.

We're not going to win the tournament, and I'm not sure we've got the depth of squad to cope with a prolonged run and maintain any form domestically.  If it was going to be detrimental to us doing well in the league, or even more so enjoying good Scottish/ League cup runs, its not a disaster if we get knocked out.

I know there's a lot of fans who love the European games that will completely disagree here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, PauloPerth said:

I know there's a lot of fans who love the European games that will completely disagree here.

Tbf I think a lot of people are seeing the financial benefits. The club are at a high point just now and need to try and build on that, £3m+ goes a huge way to helping that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, Lyle Lanley said:

 

Thought I would share this. 

Is that the same guy who has labelled his video about Jason Kerr scoring at Mcdiarmid? 

Making one of those videos sign of a bellend in my view. Can't abide people having fun - and fake fun for the camera miles worse than that. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Kerr was granted as the scorer initially by a few places I think.

Football vloggers are harmless in my eyes, just don’t wave the camera around in front of me.

Nothing will ever beat copa 90’s derby days for me though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, mizfit said:

Football vloggers are harmless in my eyes, just don’t wave the camera around in front of me.

Totally agree. If these guys are enjoying making videos and making something from it then fair play to them.

Interesting take on situation from @PauloPerth as well. The free hit was Thursday for me as I had absolutely no preference which group stage we were in. This one has more pressure onit, even with (very) low expectations. 

I know we'd be outclassed in a group stage (although if we somehow beat LASK that would be a huge injection of confidence) but it would still be special to be enjoying these games up until Xmas. The obvious financial rewards mentioned as well that can only strengthen the club. 

They will have weaknesses, hopefully we have the team on place that can identify and exploit them. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Radford said:

Interesting take on situation from @PauloPerth as well. The free hit was Thursday for me as I had absolutely no preference which group stage we were in. This one has more pressure onit, even with (very) low expectations. 

This. 

Especially the perception amongst general fans of other clubs. Getting beat by LASK may be seen as a big euro flop by those who don’t know anything about them or bother to look up their recent runs and results in European competition. 

On top of that, I get what Paulo is saying, however there are so many positives and possibilities if we can win this tie.

With the money it brings this could be a rare chance for us to go up a level in terms of keeping our best players, keeping the manager, bringing in better players. We can cement our place as the best small club in the country.

Plus from a purely selfish fan point of view, even if this is to be a one-off, how good would it be getting to the groups and being able to look ahead to October/November and booking another great away trip or trips to another great euro city with a top football team?

Some cracking things to look forward to in the next 6 months if we win this tie.

 

Edited by Sh*teAndMuck
Deleted waffley pish
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...